Saturday, July 12, 2008

Africa Faces Another Rising Expense: Fuel

DAKAR, Senegal — In the United States, where the median household income is about $48,000, $4-a-gallon gas is painful.

In Nigeria, most of whose 140 million citizens live on less than $2 a day despite their country’s status as the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, $5.50-a-gallon diesel is excruciating.

Daniel Idoko runs a small business center in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and because the country’s electricity supply is so balky, he relies on a diesel generator to run his computers, fax machines and copiers. The price of diesel has increased by 110 percent in the past few months, transforming his once prosperous small business from an asset to a liability.

“I employ six people and pay rent for this shop, salaries, and I maintain equipment,” Mr. Idoko said Friday, with a mix of frustration and resignation. “How much do I have to make to break even?”

Rising global food prices have sent discontent rippling across Africa in recent months, prompting riots and demonstrations from Zambia to Senegal, Tanzania to Niger. Now fuel prices are causing rumblings as well. On Friday, fuel tanker drivers in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, went on strike over rising prices of diesel fuel and poor road conditions, a move that could cripple the economy.

In Africa, fuel prices are a much less emotional issue than food prices. Food takes up 50 percent or more of a household’s budget, but since most people do not have cars, the price of gas is meaningful only as it relates to bus and taxi fares.

But now those are rising rapidly, too. In Namibia this week, bus and taxi drivers increased fares by 10 percent after the country’s sixth fuel price increase this year. In Senegal, a ride in a private minibus that once cost 50 cents can now cost double that.

Fuel prices are also eroding the profits of businesses across Africa — where a single breadwinner sometimes supports a dozen people or more — hurting some of the neediest people in the world. Prices have risen so fast that they threaten to undermine the continent’s nascent economic boom, which has been driven in large part by high prices for the natural resources that many countries export.

In Senegal, where power generation is largely dependent on diesel, the state-run electrical company has struggled to provide continuous power to large swaths of the country. Oumar Ba, a tailor who shares a large workshop with dozens of others here in Dakar, said the electricity was usually off half the day, cutting deeply into his income.

“It is very hard to work like this,” Mr. Ba said. “But I have people in the village depending on me, so I try to keep going.”

Countries that set national fuel prices, facing huge import expenses, have had to raise prices. Burundi, a tiny, impoverished nation that has suffered through civil war and mass killings, just raised its prices by 8 percent. Ivory Coast, a onetime regional economic powerhouse also struggling to recover from civil war, raised its fuel prices this week to more than $7 a gallon.

In Nigeria, where corruption and misrule have squandered, by some estimates, as much as $400 billion in oil profits over the past 40 years, cheap gas is nothing less than a birthright. But Nigeria’s dilapidated refineries cannot produce enough gasoline to supply the country. The government imports about $4 billion a year of petroleum products. Government subsidies have kept regular gasoline selling for about $2 a gallon, but the price of diesel, crucial for businesses and heavy transport, has rapidly risen.

“The cost of diesel is too much so we can’t even use the generators any more,” said Dennis Mbang, 35, a pharmacist in a military hospital in Lagos. “The common man doesn’t feel fine. The wealth is here, oil is here, but the masses are suffering.”

High fuel costs are a particularly bitter pill for Nigeria because its own troubles have helped raise prices. Attacks on oil installations by militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region have helped briefly to knock Nigeria out of its spot as Africa’s top oil producer, in favor of Angola.

The International Monetary Fund’s recent analysis of the effects of rising oil and food prices warned that at least 18 countries in Africa would be pushed to the tipping point by high fuel prices.

“It is a potential source of instability, particularly when you combine the galloping price of petrol with food prices,” said Philippe de Pontet, an analyst with the Eurasia Group, a political risk analysis consulting firm.

In Liberia, one of the world’s poorest countries after 14 years of civil war, price increases for oil and food would consume almost all of the country’s foreign reserves. Higher oil prices will cost Ghana, which has one of West Africa’s most promising economies, 8.1 percent of its gross domestic product, according to the monetaryfund.

5 comments:

Its amazing when you live in the midst of plenty, yet you are starving. That presently describes the Nigerian situation, and unfortunately our leaders are either clueless or insensitive to the plight of the masses. To add to the anguish of the masses , daily the papers chronicle the probes of millions and milions of dollars stolen by our" elected leaders".Money meant for infrastructural development which if done would ease the lives of the entire populace.Our LEADERS DONT see the stupidity in running generators instead of making the electrical companies work, after all their diesel is paid for by the taxpayers. However the forget that they wont always be in power, or that a man's best legacy is in his good name. When the bible talks of people suffering when the wicked are in authority, this is it. Until majority of our leaders are God fearing persons , who know they have been placed there by God for the good of the people, and also that ill gotten wealth will flit away like dust in the wind, poverty will continue to prevail. However, we as His children should take hope in this, that in the midst of all this , He will provide for us, as He did for Isreal during the worldwide famine, also as in Phil 4v19, He will provide all our needs according to HIS RIHES IN CHRIST JESUS, not according to the world riches index.

The blame is not simply that of the leaders alone, the Nigerian people are equally responsible for their woes. The people deserve the kind of leaders they get. In fact these men and women are by products of a culture that breeds and perpetuates corruption.

The average man on the street is engaged in all kinds of corrupt practices - the gari seller who uses uneven measures, the civil servant who goes about his own personal duties during working hours, the doctor who refers patients to his own private clinics, the policeman who demands bribes at checkpoints - they all are as guilty as well.

I dont totally agree with Xtiandoctrine. The people deserve the kind of leaders we have because we are by products of a corrupt generation? Have you thought about it that the woman cheating with her garri measures sees it as the only to make ends meet, because if she is to sell at her cost price plus elevated transport fare no one will buy? Am not supporting sin but this is the fact of how to survive to her. All Nigerians are not involved in corrupt practices as CNN and BBC make it seem. Am a doctor who practices under some unbearable conditions ,yet i dont divert patints. I also know persons who are not Christians, living in most difficilt situtions and yet are not corrupt.

If you say God has allowed us to have such leaders to make us turn and depend on Him, that is more palatable than saying we deserve this leaders cos we are all corrupt. That is more Oprah Winfrey like.

Amma, truth is never palatable. Fruits do not fall far from the tree. The leadership of any nation is anchored and deeply rooted among in soil of the people it leads. The Nigerian society and....I say it again....culture permits and fosters corruption.

Now are all Nigerians corrupt? Definitely know! But there are enough corrupt Nigerians out there to earn the nation the dubious reputation of a corrupt nation. You definitely are a honest doctor, but I know of doctors....and I'm sure you do too... who ask for bribe before they can perform surgery...

The men and women who assume positions of leadership are not UFOs from a different planet. They were reared in the crucible of the nation.

They go up there, amass stupendous amount of wealth....overnight at that.....come back home, and nobody asks how they got so suddenly wealthy. They are greeted as "responsible children", hailed and revered as examples of an accomplished sons, and they are crowned as Chief this, chief that.

For corruption to wiped out in Nigeria, it has to start from its root cause.....and it cannot and should not be tolerated at any level..market woman, doctor, or policeman

Where You Go I Go – Jesus Culture

Choruswhere you go I gowhat you say I say, Godwhere you pray I praywhere you pray I pray(repeat)

VerseJesus only didwhat he saw you dohe would only saywhat he heard you speak

he would only movewhen he felt you leadfollowing your heartfollowing your spirit

how could I expectto walk without youwhen every move that Jesus madewas in surrender

I would not beginto live without youfor you alone are worthyand you are always good

you are always goodyeah...

you are always goodalways goodalways goodyeah, yeah yeah

Chorus

Bridgethough the world sees and soon forgetswe will not forget who you are and what you've done for us,what you've done for us

Chorus

Bridge

Bridge 2though the world sees and soon forgetswe will not forget, who you are,who you are, who you are, yeahwho you are, oh you are my god, you are my godyou are my god, you are my god, you are my godwoah, yeah..

Chorus

Where You Go I Go – Jesus Culture

Choruswhere you go I gowhat you say I say, Godwhere you pray I praywhere you pray I pray(repeat)

VerseJesus only didwhat he saw you dohe would only saywhat he heard you speak

he would only movewhen he felt you leadfollowing your heartfollowing your spirit

how could I expectto walk without youwhen every move that Jesus madewas in surrender

I would not beginto live without youfor you alone are worthyand you are always good

you are always goodyeah...

you are always goodalways goodalways goodyeah, yeah yeah

Chorus

Bridgethough the world sees and soon forgetswe will not forget who you are and what you've done for us,what you've done for us

Chorus

Bridge

Bridge 2though the world sees and soon forgetswe will not forget, who you are,who you are, who you are, yeahwho you are, oh you are my god, you are my godyou are my god, you are my god, you are my godwoah, yeah..

Followers

Playlist

Where you go I go - Jesus Culture

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There Will Be A Day - Jeremy Camp

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Israel And New Breed-Alpha and Omega

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Lose My Soul - Toby Mac

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Man I wanna tell ya'll something, Man.Man I'm not gonna let these material thing's, get in my way, ya'll.I'm trying to get somewhere.I'm trying to get somewhere, Thats real and pure and true and eternal.

Father God, I am clay in your hands,Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,And every little thing I make up my mind to be,Like I'm gonna be a daddy whose in the mix,And I'm gonna be a husband who stays legit,And I pray that I'm an artist who rises above,The road that is wide and filled with self love,Everything that I see draws me,Though it's only in You that I can truly see that its a feast for the eyes- a low blow to purpose.And I'm a little kid at a three ring circus.

The paparazzi flashes, and that they think that it's you,But they don't know that who you are is not what you do,True, we get it twisted when we peak at the charts,Yo before we part from the start,Where's your heart?You a pimp, hustler?Tell me what's your title,America has no more stars, now we call them idols,You sit idle, While we teach prosperity,The first thing to prosper should be inside of me.We're free...Not because of 22's on the range,But Christ came in range, we said yes now we changed,Not the same, even though I made a fall,Since I got that call, no more Saul, now I'm Paul.(YEP!)

How do I sense the tide that's rising?De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity,How do I sense the tide that's rising?It's hypnotizing me from living in light of eternity,How do I sense the tide that's rising?De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity.

(Lord what we gon do,We're relying on you, all eyes are on you Lord, all eyes are on you, all eyes are on you Jesus.)

Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,That fight for our love, and our passion,As our eyes are open wide and on you. Grant us the privilege of your world view,And may your kingdom be, what wakes us up, and lays us down.

(Hallelujah, Don't wanna lose our soul,No, Don't wanna lose my soul.)

Hey excuse me, I'm looking or the after party,Toby, Haha, yeah, last door on the left, you'll hear it.Thanks,No problem.

Made To Love - Toby Mac

The dream is fading now I am staring at the doorI know it’s over cause my feet have hit the cold floorCheck my reflection, I ain’t feeling what I seeIt’s no mystery

What ever happened to a passion I could live for?What became of the flame that made me feel more?And when did I forget…

That I was made to love YouI was made to find YouI was made just for YouMade to adore YouI was made to love and be loved by YouYou were here before meYou were waiting on meAnd You said You’d keep me never would You leave meI was made to loveAnd be loved by You

The dreams alive with my eyes open wideBack in the ring You got me swingin’ for the grand prizeI feel the haters spittin’ vapors on my dreamsBut I still believe…

Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

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Looked down from a broken skyTraced out by the city lightsMy world from a mile highBest seat in the house tonightTouched down on the cold black tileHold on for the sudden stopBreathe in the familiar shockOf confusion and chaosAll those people going somewhere?Why have I never cared?

Give me your eyes for just one secondGive me your eyes so I can seeEverything that I keep missingGive me your love for humanityGive me your arms for the broken heartedThe ones that are far beyond my reachGive me your heart for the once forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

yeahyeahyeahyeah

Step out on a busy streetSee a girl and our eyes meetDoes her best to smile at meTo hide what’s underneathThere’s a man just to her rightBlack suit and a bright red tieToo ashamed to tell his wifeHe’s out of workHe’s buying timeAll those people going somewhere?Why have I never cared?

Give me your eyes for just one secondGive me your eyes so I can seeEverything that I keep missingGive me your love for humanityGive me your arms for the broken heartedThe ones that are far beyond my reachGive me your heart for the once forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

yeahyeahyeahyeah

I’ve been there a million timesA couple of million eyesJust move and pass me byI swear I never thought that I was wrongWell I want a second glanceSo give me a second chanceTo see the way you see the people all alone

Give me your eyes for just one secondGive me your eyes so I can seeEverything that I keep missingGive me your love for humanityGive me your arms for the broken heartedThe ones that are far beyond my reachGive me your heart for the once forgotten

Give me your eyes so I can see

yeahyeahyeahyeah

Testify to Love - Avalon

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Blessed Be Thy Name: Tree63

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One Thing: Paul Coleman

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I Will Lift My Eyes - Bebo Norman

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Song of Hope: Robbie Seay Band

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God With Us - MercyMe

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Who are weThat You would be mindful of usWhat do You seeThat’s worth looking our way

We are freeIn ways that we never should beSweet releaseFrom the grip of these chains

Like hinges straining from the weightMy heart no longer can keep from singingAll that is within me criesFor You alone be glorifiedEmmanuel .. God with us

My heart sings a brand new songThe debt is paid these chains are goneEmmanuel .. God with us

Like hinges straining from the weightMy heart no longer can keep from singing

All that is within me criesFor You alone be glorifiedEmmanuel .. God with us

My heart sings a brand new songThe debt is paid these chains are goneEmmanuel .. God with us

Such a tiny offering compared to CalvaryNevertheless we lay it at Your feetSuch a tiny offering compared to CalvaryNevertheless we lay it at Your feet

All that is within me criesFor You alone be glorifiedEmmanuel .. God with us

My heart sings a brand new songThe debt is paid these chains are goneEmmanuel .. God with us

Big Enough - Ayiesha Woods

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You turned water into wine - how extraordinaryGave sight to the blind - and still I carryMy own load when you told meTo take your yoke ‘cause yours is easy

And even though my issues seem trivialYou alone are never to imperialIts just the way that you love meIts enough to convince me

And I don't wanna box you inYou've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't wanna believeThat you're big enough - but you're big enough yeah!

I don't wanna box you in You've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't understand that you're big enoughBut you're big enough Jesus!

You turned darkness into light - keep my lamp burningAnd you are my everythingThere's no denying, your love is so amazingAnd even though my problems seem typicalNothing for you is ever too difficultYou never have reservations - love without limitations

And I don't wanna box you inYou've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't wanna believeThat you're big enough - but you're big enough yeah!

And I don't wanna box you inYou've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't understandThat you're big enough - but you're big enough

Oh, no matter how I try to get around it - I'm remindedWherever I go I'm totally surroundedIt's all about you - I can never doubt youEven if I wanted to…

And I don't wanna box you in You've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't wanna believeThat you're big enough - but you're big enough yeah!

And I don't wanna box you inYou've been doing big things since the world beganSometimes I just don't understandThat you're big enough - but you're big enough

That you're big enoughThat you're big enough

That you're big enoughThat you're big enough yeah!

Empty Me - Chris Sligh

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I've had just enough of the spotlight when it burns brightTo see how it gets in the blood.And I've tasted my share of the sweet life and the wild rideAnd found a little is not quite enough.I know how I can stray And how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness insideEvery vain ambition and the poison of my prideAnd any foolish thing my heart holds toLord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.

I've had just enough of the quick buys of the best liesTo know how prodigals can be drawn away.I know how I can strayAnd how fast my heart could change.

Empty me of the selfishness insideEvery vain ambition and the poison of my prideAnd any foolish thing my heart holds to Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.

Cause everything is a lesser thingCompared to you, compared to you.Cause everything is a lesser thingCompared to you. So, I surrender all!

Empty me of the selfishness insideEvery vain ambition and the poison of my prideEmpty me of the selfishness insideEvery vain ambition and the poison of my pride And any foolish thing my heart holds toLord empty me of me so I can be Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you.Oh, filled with you. Empty me.

Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream"

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President-Elect Barack Obama November 4th

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Barack Obama Acceptance Speech

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Yes We Can

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American Prayer - Dave Stewart

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Hiding Place - Selah

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Something Beautiful - Newsboys

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I wanna start it overI wanna start againI want a new beginningOne without an endI feel it insideCalling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my nameIt's a kiss without any shameSomething beautiful(Yeah Yeah)Like a song that stirs in my headSinging love will take us whereSomethings beautiful

I've heard it in the silenceSeen it on a faceI've felt it in a long hourLike a sweet embraceI know this is trueIt's calling out to me

It's the child on her wedding dayIt's the daddy that gives her awaySomething beautifulWhen we laugh so hard we cryOh the love between you and ISomething beautiful

Newsboys

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What If - Nicole Nordeman

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What if you’re right?And he was just another nice guyWhat if you’re right?What if it’s true?They say the cross will only make a fool of youAnd what if it’s true?

What if he takes his palace in historyWith all the prophets and the kingsWho taught us love and came in peaceBut then the story endsWhat then?

But what if you’re wrong?What if there’s more?What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?What if you jump?And just close your eyes?What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?What if He’s more than enough?What if it’s love?

What if you dig, What if you digWay down deeper than your simple-minded friendsWhat if you dig?What if you findA thousand more unanswered questions insideThat’s all you find

What if you pick apart the logicAnd begin to poke the holesWhat if the crown of thorns is no moreThen folklore that must be told and retold

You’ve been running as fast as you canYou’ve been looking for a place you can land so longBut what if you’re wrong?

What if you jump?And just close your eyes?What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?What if He’s more than enough?What if it’s love?

Word of God Speak - Mercy Me

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I'm finding myself at a loss for wordsAnd the funny thing is it's okayThe last thing I need is to be heardBut to hear what You would say

Word of God speakWould You pour down like rainWashing my eyes to seeYour majestyTo be still and knowThat You're in this placePlease let me stay and restIn Your holinessWord of God speak

I'm finding myself in the midst of YouBeyond the music, beyond the noiseAll that I need is to be with YouAnd in the quiet hear Your voice

Word of God speakWould You pour down like rainWashing my eyes to seeYour majestyTo be still and knowThat You're in this placePlease let me stay and restIn Your holinessWord of God speak

I'm finding myself at a loss for wordsAnd the funny thing is it's okay

Nicol Sponberg - "Resurrection"

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I'm at a loss for words, there's nothing to sayI sit in silence wondering what led me to this placeHow did my heart become so lifeless and coldWhere did the passion go?

When all my efforts seem like chasing windI've used up all my strength and there's nothing left to giveI've lost the feeling and I'm numb to the coreI can't fake it anymore.

Here I am at the end I'm in need of resurrectionOnly You can take this empty shell and raise it from the deadWhat I've lost to the world what seems far beyond redemptionYou can take the pieces in Your hand and make me whole again, again

You speak and all creation falls to its kneesYou raise Your hand and calm the waves of the raging seaYou have a way of turning winter to springMake something beautiful out of all this suffering

Here I am once again I'm in need of resurrectionOnly You can take this empty shell and raise it from the deadWhat I've lost to the world what seems far beyond redemptionYou can take the pieces in Your hand and make me whole again, again

You have a way of turning winter to springMake something beautiful out of all this suffering

Nicole Mullen - Redeemer

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Casting crowns - Stained Glass Masquerade

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We are Africans, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and we live our lives to please Him, to do His will, and to fill the earth with His goodness.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Is there anyone that failsIs there anyone that fallsAm I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look aroundEverybody seems so strongI know they’ll soon discoverThat I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okayIf I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it tooSo with a painted grin, I play the part againSo everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic peopleUnder shiny plastic steeplesWith walls around our weaknessAnd smiles to hide our painBut if the invitation’s openTo every heart that has been brokenMaybe then we close the curtainOn our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been thereAre there any hands to raiseAm I the only one who’s tradedIn the altar for a stage

The performance is convincingAnd we know every line by heartOnly when no one is watchingCan we really fall apart

But would it set me freeIf I dared to let you seeThe truth behind the personThat you imagine me to be

Would your arms be openOr would you walk awayWould the love of JesusBe enough to make you stay

Well if the invitation’s openTo every heart that has been brokenMaybe then we close the curtainOn our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone that failsIs there anyone that fallsAm I the only one in church today feelin’ so small